ART has been known to inspire many things, and for singer Ellie Goulding it has found its way into her music. Or the title of her new album cover at least.
The pop hitmaker, 33, releases her fourth studio album Brightest Blue on July 17 and has a newly-announced tour for spring 2021. But rewind the clock and it was during her time living in the US and a visit to an installation by American artist Doug Wheeler that she found some album inspiration.
She explains: "I moved there for a couple of years (New York) and the one thing I noticed, there was always a new exhibition or a new opening, a new showcase of a new artist and so I was just immersed in art for a few years.
"I went to an exhibition by Doug Wheeler and it was essentially walking into a blue, luminous room, where you can't escape the blue. I immediately felt this feeling of warmth and happiness, and then I went to the studio and wrote the title song Brightest Blue".
But the title, she reflects, also shares similarities with the monikers of previous records like 2012's, Halcyon.
"Halcyon Days [the title of the re-issued 2012 album] is the days of happiness that come after a lot of turmoil," she says.
"So I always have this theme of bitter sweet or melancholic where you overcome these days of sadness. So, Brightest Blue is just being able to find the light in sadness really.
"Blue was always a colour associated with being down but I thought Brightest Blue was a good way to accept that you'll always have those kind of feelings, but learning how to illuminate them."
Goulding's previous album, Delirium, was released in 2015, and the gap of over four years is the longest between albums for the Brit Award winner.
Talking from London via Zoom, she reflects on the time frame.
She definitely isn't one to rest on her musical laurels and spent a large chunk of those years on the road as part of her Delirium World Tour.
"I definitely went around the world a few times over," she explains.
"And even going to Australia and New Zealand was big, you have to take quite a lot of time to deal with that undertaking because the jet lag is crazy. I remember a few trips where it took me weeks to get over the jet lag.
"So yeah, for those years I was travelling a lot and then when I got back I was just in no place to write music particularly. I'd just spent the last three years on tour with my music and I think it can get a bit much.
The pop hitmaker, 33, releases her fourth studio album Brightest Blue on July 17 and has a newly-announced tour for spring 2021. But rewind the clock and it was during her time living in the US and a visit to an installation by American artist Doug Wheeler that she found some album inspiration.
She explains: "I moved there for a couple of years (New York) and the one thing I noticed, there was always a new exhibition or a new opening, a new showcase of a new artist and so I was just immersed in art for a few years.
"I went to an exhibition by Doug Wheeler and it was essentially walking into a blue, luminous room, where you can't escape the blue. I immediately felt this feeling of warmth and happiness, and then I went to the studio and wrote the title song Brightest Blue".
But the title, she reflects, also shares similarities with the monikers of previous records like 2012's, Halcyon.
"Halcyon Days [the title of the re-issued 2012 album] is the days of happiness that come after a lot of turmoil," she says.
"So I always have this theme of bitter sweet or melancholic where you overcome these days of sadness. So, Brightest Blue is just being able to find the light in sadness really.
"Blue was always a colour associated with being down but I thought Brightest Blue was a good way to accept that you'll always have those kind of feelings, but learning how to illuminate them."
Goulding's previous album, Delirium, was released in 2015, and the gap of over four years is the longest between albums for the Brit Award winner.
Talking from London via Zoom, she reflects on the time frame.
She definitely isn't one to rest on her musical laurels and spent a large chunk of those years on the road as part of her Delirium World Tour.
"I definitely went around the world a few times over," she explains.
"And even going to Australia and New Zealand was big, you have to take quite a lot of time to deal with that undertaking because the jet lag is crazy. I remember a few trips where it took me weeks to get over the jet lag.
"So yeah, for those years I was travelling a lot and then when I got back I was just in no place to write music particularly. I'd just spent the last three years on tour with my music and I think it can get a bit much.
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